


Lapis and the Earth

by ArrowOvis



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen, Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-01
Updated: 2017-07-01
Packaged: 2018-11-21 23:05:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11367495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArrowOvis/pseuds/ArrowOvis
Summary: An introspective look at the evolving relationship between Lapis and the Earth, and how her thoughts about the planet an its people changed with time and events. Written up to Same Old World. (I'm really bad at summaries I'm sorry)





	Lapis and the Earth

To be very honest, Lapis' first impression of the Earth was…pretty lousy. When she had first landed on the terrestrial planet, all around her were the scuffmarks of war - weapons, churned up dirt and broken minerals on the ground. Dissolving her wings, the blue gem knelt down to examine the shards, attention pulled away too late by heavy bootsteps behind her.

The first impression was her last thought, made before her form disappeared.

 _Earth is cruel_.

 

As the years pass, Lapis gains more and more knowledge about Earth.

 _Earth doesn't listen_ , she learnt, when the Homeworld gems that caught her forced her into silent servitude. How much time has she wasted protesting her innocence, she wonders idly, watching through a one way mirror as her brethren fight a war.

 _Earth is hard_ , she realises, when she is dropped onto the ground and cracks against its surface. Only the mirror that holds her trapped keeps her alive. Her prison has become her tomb.

 _Earth doesn't care_ , she adds, when a Crystal Gem, the renegade pearl, picks her up decades later, and stores her away without a second thought. She'd tried speaking, she really had. Showing pictures of the war, of her memories of Homeworld. But they think that she is just a tool. A lifeless ornament. Earth...doesn't care.

* * *

 

A few millennia pass, or so Lapis thinks. It's hard to tell time in another Gem's space. But when she finally emerges again, the renegade wears a new outfit and looks so much older. She is shown off to a non-gem boy. Asked to do tricks, share knowledge - just like what the gems did to her so many years ago. She doesn't respond. There is no use pleasing her jailors when they have never cared and never will. She is passed to the boy, a Steven.

As the Steven goes around, he keeps talking to her and playing with her. He takes care of her, and makes sure that her surface isn't scratched. Maybe, Lapis thinks while enveloped in the warmth of Steven's hand, Earth can be escaped.

So she talks, and it turns out that the third time is the charm. Steven frees her from the mirror, and she regains her form for the first time in an age. She's thankful, and so so grateful to him. The Crystal gems come, all three ready to trap her once more. They aren't listening. What a surprise.

This time, Lapis won't even try.

She summons a wave, and lets it smash down on the rebels, sparing Steven. She extends a hand to him, her saviour, the only one who has ever listened.

He refuses.

Lapis is disappointed, but she knows better than to force someone somewhere they don't want to go. She leaves, taking the ocean with her.

The next time she sees Steven, her hate of the Earth could burn stars. Even with its largest resource, and her power at its maximum, the accursed planet won't let her leave. Steven tells her that she's hurting the Earth and she has to bite back the retort that the Earth has hurt her. But then, Steven heals her, and finally, _finally_ , she is able to leave. Earth is behind her.

 

 

Or so she thinks.

* * *

 Not a half cycle later, she finds herself on her way back, squashed between a peridot (when did they start making those?) and a Jasper. They do nothing but squabble every day and it irks her to the point that she almost wishes that she was back in the pearl's gem. The peridot keeps asking questions, and the jasper keeps leering at her. What happened to respect for the nobility, she wonders. Earth, she realises, as the jasper throws her into a cell for "insubordination". Earth is what happened. The war on earth has changed soldiers from peasants to revered generals. How fitting, she thinks, that Earth still haunts her.

They land, and Lapis is dragged out of her prison. She looks around in fear. They are at the Crystal Gem's beach and true to form, there they are. Jasper laughs, and makes some comment about how the mighty have fallen. Lapis doesn't pay them any more attention after she realizes that Steven isn't there. He's safe. Peridot can blabber on about Stevens and kindergartens, but without solid proof and a good reason, Jasper isn't going to care.

But then he comes, and summons a rose quartz shield. NO, she screams in her head, too slow to stop Jasper before she punches Steven's face and he collapses. At the back of her mind, she wonders why he didn't poof like a normal gem, but can summon a gem weapon. Such thoughts become background noise as she is thrown into her cell again, left alone with the realization that she has hurt Steven. Earth is lonely, she thinks, as she listens to the cries and screams of the now separated gems down the corridor. She curls up, and wants to stop thinking.

Sirens. The ship is going down. Steven has already come and offered to free her, but Lapis refuses. At least she can say that she chose to be a prisoner this time.

They crash, and miraculously, her gem is unharmed. Lapis pushes a panel off her and realises too late that she isn't alone. Thundering footsteps, and a firm grip traps her before she can fly off. This is just like how her nightmare with Earth had started. She narrows her eyes at Jasper, and makes a stand. If the Earth is destined to be her prison, then so be it. At least she can keep Steven safe this time. 

* * *

 

 _Earth is cold_. The thought rattles around Lapis' mind. She spends the few moments she has to breathe in this underwater space digesting this. Transparent fluid that once used to comfort her now forms the chains of her self-made hell. Sure, she is the other gem's jailor, but Lapis is as much a prisoner as Jasper is, and quicker than she would like (meaning at all), this common bond is melding them together. Day in and day out, the water chills her and the darkness churns, just waiting for the moment that her sanity snaps and allows Malachite mental form.

Steven comes. The end begins. 

* * *

 

The next time Lapis opens her two eyes, she's lying on a pile of cloth in a draughty construct. The Crystal gem's voices drift in from the outside. Specifically, she hears Steven expressing his worry about her to their leader, Garnet. He asks if she’s going to be okay. She spends the next few hours waiting for this planet's sun to set with her eyes closed, holding that question close to her heart.

 _Earth...is quiet_ , Lapis thinks as she finally stands up and looks around the "barn". Behind her, she can hear a machine starting up and spewing exhaust, but beyond that, the environment seems peaceful. Almost, beautiful. She blinks, and spreads her wings. She should know the truth about this planet by now.

"Lapis!" She turns, and sees Steven rushing towards her with open arms. Lapis can't help but smile a little and receive his hug fondly. He's the only gem she trusts right now.

Steven asks where she's going. Lapis...doesn't know. She knows that she can't go back to Homeworld, and she doesn't know any other planets well enough to emigrate there. So she settles for the truest answer - away from here.

Steven - sweet, kind Steven offers to give her tour of the planet. 

Soon, they're flying high above the clouds, laughing at the sights and enjoying the sound. Steven brings Lapis through Jersey, Detroit, Tokyo and so, so many more places that she has never seen. Maybe if she had seen these when she first came here, Lapis would still think the Earth beautiful. They skim the ocean and Lapis shows off her powers for the boy's enjoyment. There's something more magical than his spit in seeing him smile, and for a moment, Lapis feels whole again. As if the Earth truly had changed.

The memories come crashing back when she sees the Galaxy Warp. The place where it all started, and the place where she will now meet her end. Where her planet abandoned her, where her kind used her. She tells Steven her story, and finds the courage to finally lay herself bare. Because unlike all the other gems she had met in the past few millennia...he cares.

 

Lapis holds onto that warm feeling as she flies them back to the barn. Right next to the question of where will she go and if she will be okay. And as she looks around at the trees and dancing leaves, so very different from the barren war ground she first landed on, she realises that maybe, just maybe, _Earth, could be home_.


End file.
